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Design Approach

old world hand-craftsmanship, advanced research, and the relentless persuit of perfection

 

 

Match-Pair Components For Symmetrical Soundstaging

 

The accurate presentation of reproduced stereophonic sound depends on the ability of the sound reproduction system to reproduce the tonal qualities and the lateral, vertical and depth perception cues of sound. This ability to reproduce three dimensional sound is called soundstaging. An accurately reproduced soundstage conveys the acoustical and spatial cues that allow you to locate performers and instruments in three dimensional space as you do during a live performance. To achieve accurate soundstaging, symmetrical cues encoded in the left and right channel's information must be preserved in amplification, and most critically in loudspeaker reproduction.

 

For loudspeakers to preserve symmetry, each driver must "see" the same resistance, the same capacitance, the same inductance as the other, over its entire frequency range. When there is unevenness between a pair of components the soundstage deteriorates and the reproduction becomes inaccurate. NSMT's approach to preserving symmetry in the soundstage is to hand craft its loudspeakers with hand matched components in A-B pairs. Every component--resistor, capacitor, coil, transducer--in speaker 'A' is matched with its equivalent in speaker 'B', some to two decimal places, which is unheard of in the industry.

 

Phase Linearity

 

For a loudspeaker to reproduce the nuances, subtleties, and ambiance of music, the loudspeaker must have exceptional phase characteristics. Therefore we use minimalist, minimum phase crossovers because of their inherent superior phase characteristics and their ability to produce seamless transition between drivers. We believe that synergy between components is very important to achieve accurate sound. Because every component has its own tonal characteristics, it is better to use fewer components that are synergistic. Therefore we spend considerable research time determining which components work well together and in what manner. We use only the highest quality components which are sourced from around the world. Furthermore, each component is hand selected and rigorously tested before it is used in one of our loudspeakers.

 

Cabinet Design

 

Cabinet design is the most underrated aspect of loudspeaker design. Yet we see it as the most significant aspect. Cabinet design is so important to us that in an era when many loudspeaker manufacturers are using off-the-shelf cabinets we manufacture every cabinet for each specific design in-house. For sure the inadequacies of loudspeaker cabinets can be corrected with computer optimization and many crossover components. However, a well designed loudspeaker cabinet can be made to work synergistic-ally with the drivers and eliminate many corrective crossover parts. Ideally, the perfect loudspeaker would be one without crossover components, hence our approach is to treat the loudspeaker cabinets as a filter to shape the loudspeaker's frequency response. Because we believe that minimalist, first order, transient perfect crossovers are crucial for accurate sound reproduction, our cabinets must match the drivers characteristics (parameters) in order for us to use very few crossover components. Therefore we conduct extensive research on cabinet design and driver and component performance. Well designed loudspeaker cabinets are the most expensive cost factor in loudspeaker production, therefore by manufacturing our own cabinets we keep our prices low and our quality very high which allows us to pass on cost savings to our customers.

 

Quality Control

 

Our commitment to quality control is reflected in our matched-components designs, in the quality of the components we use, in our production technology, and, most of all, in the end product- our loudspeakers. We handcraft all our loudspeakers in-house because doing so affords us the highest level of design and quality control and the greatest ability to innovate and improve our loudspeakers. Our crossover networks are hard-wired and hand-soldered. Every pair of loudspeakers that we produce is subjected to several critical tests including a listening test, before it leaves the factory.

 

The Result

 

The results of our design and manufacturing approach are loudspeakers that image and soundstage accurately and produce a natural, airy, box-less, musical, symmetrical soundstage. Our loudspeakers are described by reviewers as, "crafted with jewel-like precision," with a smooth "tube-like" sound that is, "breathtaking."